maeparser is a parser for Schrodinger Maestro files.
Structure files (.mae,.maegz,.mae.gz) can contain multiple structures deliminated by "f_m_ct".
To read a structure,
#include "Reader.hpp"
...
FILE* f = fopen("test.mae", "r");
schrodinger::mae::Reader r(f);
std::shared_ptr<schrodinger::mae::Block> b;
while ((b = r.next("f_m_ct")) != nullptr) {
// Parse structure
}
fclose(f);See also test/UsageDemo.cpp, which reads an example structure and stores it in a dummy Molecule class.
Why do we have a recursive descent parser for mae files instead of using a parser generator like ANTLR or lex/yacc? The main reasons are that the mae format language is 1) pretty simple, 2) unlikely to change significantly, and 3) not a context free grammar. In addition, speed of parsing these files is important.
In what way is the current version of the language not a CFG? Special tokens
like block opener { and key/value separator ::: can also be string
values because the quotes on string values are not required. This results in
complication and pain in attempts to define a grammar.